Hike to Gregory Bald

On Thursday June 25 we did our long planned hike to Gregory Bald in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We have been planning this trip for a year, ever since 3 of us hiked it last June. The reason that it took a year to hike it again is because the wild Flame Azaela only blooms for about 2 weeks each June. If you miss the bloom it is just another green shrub until next year.

In the picture above, Karla and Ray are strolling through some azeala bushes. The horse belongs to one of 4 riders that passed us on the trail.

Gregory Bald is named because it is an open area on the top of a mountain that is...well, bald. No trees grow on this approximate 15 acre area and no one knows exactly why. The area was just a grassy field when the first pioneers found it. Back then it was about 4 times the size that it is now. It may have been fire that cleared the area of trees initially and then grazing bison and elk kept it clear. Later settlers grazed their cattle and goats here each summer. Once the National Park was formed in 1934 grazing was stopped and over time the trees around the edge have crept in. The National Park service plans to slowly move back the trees to restore the bald to its original size.

At some point the wild Flame Azaela plants and wild blueberry plants began to grow on the bald. Each year many people hike the 9 to 11.4 mile round trip (depending on which trail you take) to see the fabulous display of azeala flowers. Most of the azealas are orange but there are many shades of orange as well as some white, yellow, red, fuchia, etc. Many of the plants are 10 feet tall or taller.

Nine of us made the trip. Seven of us left Fairfield Glade at 5 am and we met two others who were RVing at the National park. Just for the record, we were Linda Barclay, Mary Listenberger, Karla Miller, Jim Grove, Ray Miner, Dick Bachelder, Dave and Sarah Southall and me. We were hiking in the Smokies, we were not in Argentina.

The road to get to the trailhead is gravel and because of recent rains it was very soft at spots. At one hill we all had to walk the hill while our driver, Linda, backed down the road and got a running start in order to make it to the top without bottoming out. Plus, after the hike on the way out we crossed probably 6 or 7 water crossings. If the stream was running much higher you might have to wait for it to recede to get home.

The trail started at a little over 2000 feet elevation and the top was 4949. So you gain almost 3000 feet in 4.5 miles. It is basically all up for 2.5 hours. Although Knoxville hit 97 degrees that day, it was under 80 at the top.

Last year we hiked the Gregory Ridge Trail which is 11.4 miles RT. We did the shorter Gregory Bald Trail this year at 9.0 miles. We didn't like the shorter trail because they let horses on that trail and the horses just tear up a trail. They make the trail a muddy mess both with regular mud and with horse poop. Even though it is longer I would recommend the Gregory Ridge Trail.

At the top we stayed about an hour or more. We ate lunch, enjoyed the views of the valley below, took pictures of the azeala and more. The more part is pretty interesting. Ray was wandering around and a deer came up to him and licked his hand for several minutes. Then it went over to another hiker and licked her cheek. A little yucky, but cool!

Then, as Linda, Mary and I were exploring some large azeala bushes at the edge of the woods Linda stopped and pointed near my feet. I thought it was a rabbit in the vegetation at first because the size of the brown animal I saw was the size of a rabbit. But when the rabbit rattled I saw that it was the biggest Timber Rattlesnake that I had ever seen. It rattled and moved away very slowly. I could see the head of the snake about 8 feet away but thought that there was another one because I could hear the rattle just 2 or 3 feet from me. The rattle belonged to the snake. I saw the whole snake but not all at once because of the vegetation. Through a gap in the thick vegetation I saw the head all the way to the rattles as he/she moved away. We estimated it to be well over 5 feet long and much bigger around than a softball. Beautiful! That made my day. Too bad I couldn't get a picture.

There were probably at least 25 other hikers on the bald while we were there. It was a beautiful day. The fellow hikers in the picture ate their lunch on a log at the edge of the azealas.

On the way back down the trail to the cars we came across a rotted log next to the trail that a bear had torn apart looking for insects between the time we went up and came back down. We did see a bear in the Park earlier on the drive to the trailhead. I didn't get any good pictures but the bear stopped in the woods and we observed him answering that age old question....yes they do poop in the woods, we witnessed it.

On the way home we stopped in Knoxville and had a great meal at P.F. Changs. That was part of the hiking plan all along. I think that 2 of our 9 hikers were convinced to hike mainly for the P.F. Chang part of the trip.

If you can make it next June, around the 20th or so, plan to go to Gregory Bald.